The EuroMillions draw held on Friday 15th October has proven lucky for a French ticket holder who matched the winning numbers and scooped the biggest EuroMillions jackpot to date, worth €220 million. Two weeks later, a woman living in Tahiti, in French Polynesia came forward and claimed the enormous prize.
The jackpot had risen to this top position following the recent EuroMillions Superdraw followed by a rollover streak. The winning numbers of the EuroMillions draw that delivered the new record were: 21, 26, 31, 34, 49, with Lucky Stars 2 and 5.
New Record Jackpot for EuroMillions
This was a new record for the EuroMillions jackpot. This is the second time this year that the European lottery breaks its own record, after a Swiss ticket holder pocketed a €210 million jackpot back in February.
The country where the winning ticket was purchased was announced right after the draw. France is one of the luckiest EuroMillions countries, standing on 2nd position for the number of jackpot winners as it is home to 113 EuroMillions jackpots to date. On 1st position, we find the UK with 114 jackpots and on 3rd position, Spain with 112 jackpots. Pretty tough competition! France is also the holder of a previous jackpot record, dating from December 2020, which was since then broken by a player from Switzerland.
French lottery winners have the right to choose whether they want to go public with their identity or stay anonymous. Our lucky Tahitian decided to keep her identity away from the public. All we know about her is that she’s a young woman who played the lottery for the first time, but who had the feeling she will win the lottery for a long time. “I was waiting for the right moment to play and, that day, I had a hunch”, she said. Her Quick Pick ticket brought her a life-changing fortune that she intends to spend traveling the world with (her) family and supporting worthy causes, especially involving children. She dreams of discovering the snow that she has never seen, but she’s also thinking about creating her own business.
The other French millionaire minted in December decided to remain anonymous as well, but in an interview for Le Parisien, he had a few tips for the new winner. He described his life after the win as a halfway between small pleasures and new problems to manage.
As the jackpot was already capped at €220 million, the funds that normally would have been added to the jackpot went towards the next prize category down. This made 7 second prize winners very happy, as they pocketed €4,608,445.70 each.
New Jackpot Cap
After the SuperDraw of September 24th pumped up the jackpot to €130 million, only a few rollovers were needed for the EuroMillions to hit its jackpot cap of €220 million. The draw of Friday 8th October was the first one to display the capped jackpot, and it could have stayed at the same value for four draws before the jackpot would have needed to be won. However, in the draw of Friday 15th October the top prize has been snapped up before the Must Be Won draw was reached.
In accordance with the recent rules change, when the cap is reached, a new cap is set. The new one is €10 million bigger than the previous, until a threshold of €250 million is hit. The same rules change also redesigned the way the money is distributed and a higher percentage of the prize fund now goes to the jackpot. This makes the jackpot grow more quickly.
Now, the EuroMillions top prize has been reset to its initial value and it will continue to grow until a new lucky player will match the winning numbers. You can be that that lucky player! The only thing you have to do is get your ticket and keep fingers crossed.
